Rouhani projected to win 2nd term

TEHRAN, May 20 (MNA) – The incumbent, Hassan Rouhani, has apparently retained office by winning the 12th round of presidential elections held in Iran on Friday.

Spokesman of Elections Headquarters unpadeted reporters on results of nearly 39 million votes counted so far. On the basis of the report, Hassan Rouhani has so far won 22,796,468 votes out of 38,914,470 counted polls to apparently remain in office for four more years.

His main challenger Seyed Ebrahim Raeisi former deputy of Judiciary and current custodian of Astan Quds Razavi (Holy Shrine of Imam Reza) in Mashhad, has gained 15,452,194 votes.

The other two candidates former minister Mostafa Mirsalim and former VP Hashemi Taba also collected 455,211 and 210,597 votes, respectively.